how to get my strangly smart cat to take his medicine

watna

My cat is 14 years old and has quite bad teeth. He goes to the vet every so often to get his teeth scraped and cleaned.

The problem is, we can't get him to take his antiobiotics. We've tried holding him down, opening his mouth, dropping them in and making him swallow them but he just gulps like he's swallowed them and then later we find them spat out on the carpet. This used to work when he was younger but now he has perfected his "fake swallow" and can fool us!

We tried wrapping the pill up in butter but he just licks all the butter off.

Then my dad ground them up and put them in his food. However, he can tell by sniffing if even the tiniest amount of drugs are present in his food. He jst won't eat the food, no matter how hungry he is. My dad put down an untainted "control sample" next to the food with drugs in it and he wolfed it down.

Any suggestions? A little part of me is impressed at his insistence that he doesn't want the drugs!

galah

I feel for you, have the same problem here...

What I usually do is get their favourite cat treat (those blasted Aldi sticks ;-)), poke a hole in the middle of a section, hide the pill in it, cover it up, and hope for the best...

so far, this has worked (as long as the cats don't see you messing with their treats...)...

Good luck!

watna

Unfortunately my cat, Kasper, doesn't like cat treats, only human treats! It'd have to be smoked salmon or tuna for him. That could work out expensive over time.

Maybe I'll try it with cat treats tonight and see if he's mellowed in his old age!

Alun

watna wrote:

Unfortunately my cat, Kasper, doesn't like cat treats, only human treats! It'd have to be smoked salmon or tuna for him. That could work out expensive over time.

You could try cheese ... it's strange how many cats are partial to this.

Schlemm

Some vets use pill poppers for giving oral tablets to cats.

Then again, the cat will probably resist this too after a while!

Just out of curiosity, what's he taking and how long does he have to be on it for?

city girl

galah wrote:

I feel for you, have the same problem here...

What I usually do is get their favourite cat treat (those blasted Aldi sticks ;-)), poke a hole in the middle of a section, hide the pill in it, cover it up, and hope for the best...

so far, this has worked (as long as the cats don't see you messing with their treats...)...

Good luck!

I used to use these for concealing drugs with great results. Trouble is, aldi here have stopped supplying them and my cat just adores them. When I asked why they said they werent selling. If they still have them where you are, start stockpiling now!

artieanna

clever boy him and his Fake Swallow...could you be up to them-rolleyes:

sardines in brine are great, cats love fish push pill into a sardine and bingo its gone!!!


well hopefully:D

bounty_hunter

When I saw this thread title I was immediately going to suggest the brute force method I use with my cat, but reading that yours is getting on a bit in age I'm not sure if it would be suitable. If you're going to try it just be very careful that you're not causing him any harm.

This little bugger isn't even a year old yet and he's already learned to outsmart me in every possible way when it comes to being given medicine, and trying to get a pill into him is like wrestling a bear. My vet has said she's never met a more persistant cat in her life, so hopefully this'll work for you too!

What I do is wrap the cat entirely in a towel so his paws are secure and he can't fight, and then hold him gently but very firmly under one arm. Then you need to get the mouth open wide enough to place the pill right at the back of the tongue (I'll assume you already know how to get the mouth open). Pop the pill in, gently hold the cat's mouth closed and tilt his head right back and rub the throat. In this position they have no option but to genuinely swallow so they can catch a breath. I know it sounds horrible, but it will only take your cat a split second to realise that he can't breathe like that and in his panic he'll forget about the pill and just swallow it, then that's it all over, no harm done. While you need to do all this firmly, be very careful that you're doing it gently enough so as not to hurt the cat. And be prepared for him to hate you for a little while afterwards as well!

Edit: by the way, it's really helps to have somebody else to help you hold the cat, or to do the mouth opening bit if you find you need two hands!

Rancid

Try this:
Cooked chicken breast cut into BITE-sized chunks, take one chunk and carefully poke a deep hole in it with the point of a knife, insert the tablet and plug the hole with a tiny bit of chicken. Put this antibiotic-laden piece aside.
(It's important that he can't smell the medicine on the outside of the piece of chicken so pop the pill in with a tweezers or something before plugging the hole.)

Now... when your cat is HUNGRY, hand-feed him a TINY bit of chicken just so he gets the taste and wants more. Do it again.
Now you have his interest and his appetite at the right point, offer him the chunk with the tablet inside, and *immediately* let him see you offering another piece of chicken to him...
Theory being, he'll hurry up and swallow the one with the tablet to get to the next bit you're giving him.

This has consistently worked with all my cats.
Worth a try, anyway!

morgana

What works for me is crushing up the tablet and moistening it with the tiniest bit of water, grab cat, hold in armlock, smear paste in & around mouth. They will lick it off (and hate you for a while). Sadly, this doesn't work with Drontal (Wormer) as it causes them to salivate exessively - will try the Aldi stick hidey method - at least one of them loves it (the other one ignores any special 'cat' treat but loves honey roasted ham no less, hard to hide tabs in ham though) the little buggers have become far too adept at detecting anything medicinal

watna

I like the wrapping him up in a towel idea and forcing him to swallow.... very clever! Even though he's 14 he's pretty hardy so brute force but probably be ok. (He's a big boy!)

Sardines might also work, they do smell strongly and might disguise the drug smell!

I'd say the best thing would be the "smearing a paste on him" idea. He doesn't like being dirty and that always works when we have to give him his toothpaste stuff for his teeth. (we put it on his paw and he licks it off while looking evilly at us!)

I'm not sure what antibiotics he's on, I'm not living at home any more. I'm just responding to bemused phone calls from my dad asking how on earth he's going to get the pills in him. He was on an oral solution as well that was droppered into his mouth. The stuff was advertised as having a "nice strawberry flavour". What cat likes strawberries?... they like meat!!Needless to say, it didn't go down too well with the cat!

Cats are so funny, he's lived with us since he was a kitten, is an adored family pet and yet still doesn't trust us and thinks we're poisoning him!

galah

city girl wrote:

I used to use these for concealing drugs with great results. Trouble is, aldi here have stopped supplying them and my cat just adores them. When I asked why they said they werent selling. If they still have them where you are, start stockpiling now!

Thanks for the info! Will go and bulk buy today! ;-)

luckat

I usually put the animal in a position where I can hold their head back - on its back on my lap in the case of a cat, between my legs with me behind it in the case of a dog. Then I pet it very gently and soothingly for a while, then proceed, while petting and talking gently.

With a cat, I'll stroke the throat so the cat stretches out the neck, then gently take the head, still talking and stroking ("Best cat in the *whole* EU!"), and open the mouth, and *like a flash*, but still without any fuss or jumpiness, take the pill between forefinger and thumb, pop it right to the back of the throat and actually pop it into the throat. Then I'll hold the cat and stroke the throat and scratch behind the ears and praise some more, and then give a treat or two. After you do this a few times the cat's actually dying for the coming treat, so gets very relaxed about having the pill dropped into its throat.

Tabitharose

bounty_hunter wrote:

When I saw this thread title I was immediately going to suggest the brute force method I use with my cat, but reading that yours is getting on a bit in age I'm not sure if it would be suitable. If you're going to try it just be very careful that you're not causing him any harm.

This little bugger isn't even a year old yet and he's already learned to outsmart me in every possible way when it comes to being given medicine, and trying to get a pill into him is like wrestling a bear. My vet has said she's never met a more persistant cat in her life, so hopefully this'll work for you too!

What I do is wrap the cat entirely in a towel so his paws are secure and he can't fight, and then hold him gently but very firmly under one arm. Then you need to get the mouth open wide enough to place the pill right at the back of the tongue (I'll assume you already know how to get the mouth open). Pop the pill in, gently hold the cat's mouth closed and tilt his head right back and rub the throat. In this position they have no option but to genuinely swallow so they can catch a breath. I know it sounds horrible, but it will only take your cat a split second to realise that he can't breathe like that and in his panic he'll forget about the pill and just swallow it, then that's it all over, no harm done. While you need to do all this firmly, be very careful that you're doing it gently enough so as not to hurt the cat. And be prepared for him to hate you for a little while afterwards as well!

Edit: by the way, it's really helps to have somebody else to help you hold the cat, or to do the mouth opening bit if you find you need two hands!

that's pretty much how it goes in this house too